Democrat Kulewicz holds narrow lead over Republican Faber in Ohio Attorney General race

Ohio Democratic candidate for attorney general John J. Kulewicz holds a narrow lead in the race against Ohio Republican Keith Faber.

With 102,148 provisional ballots outstanding, and 100% of precincts reporting in unofficial results on the Ohio Secretary of State website, Kulewicz is winning the race with 2,285,117 votes, or 50.31%, compared to 2,256,710 votes, or 49.69%, for Faber.

Republican Keith Faber and Democrat John Kulewicz faced off to become the state’s chief law enforcement officer and legal counsel.

Faber took the role of state auditor after being a legislator in both the Ohio House and Ohio Senate. He also served as the Senate president during his legislative tenure.

Kulewicz has spent 40 years as part of the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, LLP. He also sits on Upper Arlington City Council. He campaigned on the idea that the state was looking for a change in the attorney general’s office, just as they are looking for change in other statewide offices. He told the Capital Journal before the election that he’d heard from people who believe “36 years of almost uninterrupted one-party rule has gotten us nowhere.”

Both vowed to enforce state laws to the highest degree, including investigations of elder abuse, human trafficking, and cybercrime.

Faber stood against sanctuary cities and emphasized the need for local law enforcement to work with federal immigration enforcement.

“Where you have problems is when local communities decide they want to be a sanctuary community, and they don’t cooperate with federal law enforcement, that leads to all sorts of potential conflicts,” Faber said in a Youngstown Press Club debate.

Kulewicz said he would do what was required under federal law when it came to immigration enforcement, but would prioritize local issues “to the extent that (enforcement) is discretionary.”

Both candidates said they would get the trial related to Ohio House Bill 6’s energy bailouts, and the leaders of FirstEnergy back in the courtroom after the previous case ended in a hung jury.

The previous person elected to the post, Republican Dave Yost, resigned in June to join a conservative non-profit law firm.